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July 25, 2011

Help Needed to Return WW2 Dog Tag to Soldier's Descendants

Rod wrote to Olive Tree Genealogy asking for my help in locating George H. Stevens. Here is Rod's email and a photo of the dog/ID tag

I found George H. Stevens dogtag in my deceased father-in-law’s belongings and want to return it to the owner or his family. My father-in-law served in the Pacific including Iwo Jima.

George H. Stevens Dog Tag/ID Tag

STEVENS
GEORGE H.
891236
TET-10/43
TYPE – O
USMCR

Note from Lorine:

If you have information please post it as a comment here on Olive Tree Genealogy blog OR send it to me privately at olivetreegenealogy @ gmail.com (remove the spaces before you send)

Please don't post information that might be about living individuals here on the blog

With the help of dedicated readers, we've had great success on Olive Tree Genealogy and on Ask Olive Tree Blog finding descendants of soldiers to return dog ID tags. Let's send this dog tag home!

UPDATE July 27th: I asked Rod for more details on his father-in-law's service in case that would help us find George. Here is Rod's note:

My father-in-law,
Terrence Lee Rhoades, enlisted in Jacksonville, Florida. He served in
the Pacific including landing at Iwo Jima. At wars end he was sent to
China before returning to the United States.

He served his country until 1969 including being severely wounded in Vietnam.

TET 10-43 means he received his tetanus shot in October of 1943, which was probably shortly after he enlisted, which matches with the "8" standing for the middle of the war. Best bet on this is to order away to NARA using a Freedom of Information Act request. The records should provide enough information for a genealogist to track him down.

I've sent a query to DoD. Stevens is not in the DoD database to include VA cemeteries. DoD should be able to locate contact information and may pass along my e-mail address to Marine or next of kin to facilitate return of dog tag.

There are two George H Stevens listed on Find A Grave. Both born in 1920, both fought in WWII,but neither listed as Marine. Here are there Find A Grave Memorial #'s if someone wants to check them out further. Find A Grave Memorial# 10767948 (Inscription: Sgt, 501Bomb GP) and Find A Grave Memorial# 46954775 (listed as Pvt in Army).

I'm an incurable collector of
antiques, an avid genealogist and a messy but creative cook! I blog, i write history and genealogy books. My main genealogy website is Olive Tree Genealogy http://olivetreegenealogy.com/

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